Brian Burke’s first year on the job with the Maple Leafs — from his hiring on Nov. 29, 2008 to the end of the 2009-10 season — saw highly expected changes come to a franchise that finished out of the playoffs for a fourth consecutive year. It also saw Burke lay the groundwork for an improved, tougher roster, and a better stocked farm system.

What happened

The Leafs went from one of the worst teams in hockey — many regarded their roster as hopeless — to a roster that boasted toughness as the first pillar of a rebuild. Toronto did not improve by the end of the 2009-10 season; in fact it went from 34 wins to 30 wins, and finished a fifth consecutive year out of the playoffs. Particularly damaging was an 0-7-1 start, tied for the worst in franchise history. Toronto gave up the first goal of the game in its first 11 games, and 17 of its first 19. But Burke unloaded his persona on Toronto, and his famous “truculence” phrasing was now in full effect.

By end of 2009-10

Major moves:

Phil Kessel trade, Sept. 18, 2009 — the one everyone hung their criticism on, based on the first-round picks — Tyler Seguin and Dougie Hamilton — who went on to stardom in Boston. Flash forward to September 2013, though, and this trade is now a good one for Toronto.

Free agent signings of defenceman Mike Komisarek (five years, $22.5 million U.S.) and Francois Beauchemin; the Komisarek signing may be categorized as the “worst” of the Burke era, but it wasn’t a disaster by any stretch.

Free agent signings of Colton Orr, Tim Brent and Jay Rosehill; Orr and Rosehill would lead a massive upgrade in the club’s physical presence, a theme that still has a major influence on the current team; Brent proved to be a useful 3-4 line centre.

Trade Pavel Kubina to Atlanta for Garnet Exelby; nothing significant here, but Exelby did upgrade toughness on the blue line.

Burke won a dogfight for then highly-regarded Swedish goaltender Jonas Gustavsson. A major success at the time.

The definitive move outside of Kessel was the Jan. 31 blockbuster day that saw Leafs get Dion Phaneuf from Calgary for 2008-09 holdovers Matt Stajan, Jamal Mayers, Nik Hagman and Ian White; hours later there was a changing of the guard in goal, with J.S. Giguere coming over from Anaheim for holdovers Vesa Toskala and Jason Blake. Both these moves would pave the way to a new captain (Phaneuf) and the cracking of a seven-year playoff drought in 2012-13.

13 trades

Burke made 13 trades from July 1, 2009 to the end of the 2009-10 season

Burke is known to be an impatient man when it comes to winning. He had to show patience in Toronto, given the state of the franchise when he arrived. But he did step up to the plate and swing for the fences in the Kessel trade, and the Jan. 31, 2010 deals that brought Phaneuf and Giguere to Toronto, and rid the franchise of leftovers from the 2008-09 season.

It’s important to note that the 2008-09 season was considered the worst of the seven seasons Toronto failed to make the playoffs since the 2004-05 lockout. That was not a reflection on previous GM Cliff Fletcher as much as it was the irreversible direction of the franchise since the 2004-05 lockout. Previous GM John Ferguson and previous coach Paul Maurice had the franchise within one and two points of making the playoffs in consecutive seasons; the frustration from those near misses became a hangover that saw the franchise hit rock bottom in 2008-09; Burke was presented with a roster at low tide, a roster that needed to be totally dismantled from top to bottom. This was no simple rebuilding job; it marked a major shift in franchise direction, philosophy, attitude and accountability. Burke had a massive job in front of him, and it couldn’t be tackled entirely in the span of a season or two.

Burke’s personality was an obvious factor as well — he was perceived as bombastic and gruff, and that certainly played well with the team’s new, fists-up presence led by Orr and Rosehill. But players are also happy to point out Burke was entirely different off camera, a man who cared deeply about creating a respectable atmosphere to play in. He earned the respect of players with his Christmas trade ban, a trade freeze he instituted annually for the month of December. Burke said he did not want players and their families to face the disruption of moving to another city and life during the holiday season. Burke was certainly demanding of his players — he expected them to give back to the community, and he once said a hockey player’s life should not be “comfortable.” But there was a contrast between the man who could be truculent with the media and the man who dealt with players behind closed doors — and this aspect was never fully understood in his first season in Toronto.

Ultimately, Toronto needed dramatic change, not only on the ice, but within the league, where the Maple Leaf legend had fallen on hard times. That was part of Burke’s job, to build a winner, but also to restore class to the brand within the hockey world. It was a double portfolio and no one took it harder than Burke. Part of that job was to rid the franchise of what Burke called the “blue and white disease” — and that meant taking a hard stance on Leaf legend Mats Sundin. That was not a popular path to go down, but Burke meant business, and he wasn’t shying away from an unpopular reflection on the most recent pillar of the franchise, if he had to. The full scope of what he did in Toronto has yet to be fully realized, but it got its start with Kessel and Phaneuf replacing the Sundin era during those low tide times from 2008 to 2010.

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